A plethora of wide receivers reached agreements on Thursday night, which leaves the free agent market rather dry for the Pittsburgh Steelers, who are very much in need of a receiver after trading Diontae Johnson to the Carolina Panthers.
Tyler Boyd, who has an interest in signing with his hometown Steelers, is still available, though. He’s the best receiver left after Curtis Samuel, Marquise “Hollywood” Brown, Keenan Allen and Cedrick Wilson all reached agreements on Thursday night. The Chargers traded Allen to the Chicago Bears for a fourth-round pick, while Brown landed in Kansas City and Wilson is heading to New Orleans. Samuel agreed to a three-year, $24 million deal with Buffalo. In addition, it was reported on Wednesday that Calvin Ridley is signing a massive four-year, $92 million contract, including $50 million guaranteed, with the Tennessee Titans.
Mark Kaboly of The Athletic reports that there is some level of mutual interest between the Steelers and Boyd. Kaboly also noted on Thursday morning that the biggest hurdle in Boyd to Steelers conversation are the Chiefs with dark horse being the New York Jets. That probably changes now with Brown agreeing to terms with the Chiefs. Odell Beckham Jr. is still out there as an option for the Steelers, but his age and injury history might be a concern.
The Steelers also have competition from the New England Patriots. According to Mark Daniels of MassLive.com, the Patriots have shown some interest in Boyd.
“At this point, the level of ‘interest’ is the team is doing its due diligence on the 29-year-old veteran, who’s played all eight NFL seasons in Cincinnati,” Daniels wrote.
Boyd would give the Patriots another slot receiver to go with Demario Douglas. The Patriots also have Kendrick Bourne, Jalen Reagor, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Tyquan Thornton, Kayshon Boutte, Kawaan Baker and T.J. Luther on their wide receiver depth chart.
The Steelers’ wide receivers room lacks more depth than even the Patriots right now. George Pickens and Calvin Austin III are their only returning receivers that received playing time in 2023. They’ll need to be urgent in the Boyd sweepstakes if they want to land him.
If the Steelers miss out on a receiver in free agency, they’ll have to draft at least two receivers. And it wouldn’t be surprising if they selected one in the first round.